Edgewood Doesn't Buy Soft Sell Of Highway

Coca-Cola had its New Coke campaign, and the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority had its Central Connector campaign.

Both organizations were convinced that their new offerings were better than the old way, only to find that not everybody was crazy about the change.

The soft-drink company could always do a little repackaging, a little name-changing and bypass the resistance. And the expressway officials seemed to think a softened approach, exemplified by a letter this month from chairwoman B.J. West to more than 500 Edgewood residents, could win over their target audience.

But judging by the heated comments they got Wednesday during a public meeting to explain their side, the road builders may conclude that their public campaign for a $213 million highway has fizzled.

About 300 people attended the gathering at Oak Ridge High School, and a majority of the two dozen who spoke were strongly against the toll road and worried about noise and environmental problems.

So it appears the Edgewood City Council will vote against the project in a meeting next month, when the expressway authority asks for permission to acquire land it needs through the city limits.

With a negative council vote, the city would, for a while at least, halt plans to link downtown Orlando with Orlando International Airport. A state law says that without Edgewood's consent - or that of any other municipality that the road would go through - the expressway authority cannot buy the land it needs for the 5to 6-mile road.

The expressway authority has proposed three alternate routes to run through Edgewood, all very similar. In general, the connector would run south from Division Avenue, near Michigan Street, veer west of Lake Conway, slip between Orange Avenue and the CSX Transportation railroad tracks and end at the Bee Line Expressway.

The only differences are whether a beer distributorship will be bisected by the road and which major streets the connector would intersect. Expressway officials will settle on a route Aug. 23.

The evening's first speaker was Orlando Mayor Bill Frederick, who gave a five-minute explanation of why the road would be good for the metropolitan area and is crucial to solving transportation problems. He said he understood Edgewood's resistance, but he said the residents had to bow to ''the larger need.'' He received polite applause.

Edgewood Mayor Dorris Bobber had a far simpler message. ''It was very nice of you to recognize your errant ways and apologize,'' she said to West. ''For that, we thank you.''

In the letter, West acknowledged that Edgewood residents perceived that the expressway authority was acting in a ''heavy-handed manner'' by failing to address public concerns about the road since it was first proposed last October.

Bobber said the new tone did nothing to change ''the hearts and minds of the people of Edgewood,'' adding that ''Edgewood continues to oppose the road in any and all ways possible.'' Her five-sentence speech drew a sustained ovation.

After that came several speakers with a common theme - the connector would serve ''special interests only''; it would not solve transportation problems in south Orange County; and the authority was paying no attention to those who objected to it.

Sandy Smith, assistant city clerk for Edgewood, said she has been besieged with phone calls from irate citizens frustrated by their interactions with the authority.

''You authority members may let them talk, but you're not listening to them,'' she said.

Doug Head, representing the Orange County Democratic Party Executive Committee, said among the authority's many mistakes was ''apologizing to Edgewood for stepping on its toes when you are trying to crush them with pavement.''

Several Edgewood residents said they thought the connector was needed to solve traffic problems through Edgewood, particularly along Orange Avenue. Dan Drummond, a former president of the Edgewood city council, said he was embarrassed by the city's emotional response to the road.

''Taking the attitude that we're not even going to talk about it, that we're opposed to it - in my mind is just not right,'' he said.